Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Hans Christenson was born in Denmark. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company F. The men of the company called themselves “KK’s Protectors” in honor of the 15th’s first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. “F” was also known as the Valdres Company because a large number of its members hailed from the Valdres region of Norway.

The army listed Christenson as living in Brown County, WI, a farmer, age 27, and married. He had blue eyes, blond hair, fair complexion, and stood 5’6”. He enlisted for three years on November 18, 1861 at Manitowoc, WI, and mustered at Madison, WI on December 12, 1861 as a Private (Menig). He was left sick at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on June 11, 1862 and sent to hospital on July 20, 1862. He was sick in Iuka, MS, and Corinth, MS, the same year. He was also sick in Bowling Green, KY; Farmington, MS; and Cleveland, OH on January 1, 1863. He was killed, shot through the heart, on Rocky Face Ridge in the Battle of New Hope Church, GA on May 27, 1864. On April 20, 1864, his widow Karen Christensen filed a pension.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-8,15; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.86; Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion, Wm. DeLoss Love, 1866, Church and Goodman, Chicago, p.1081; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1894, p.501; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.274; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.306; The Military History of Wisconsin in the War for the Union, Edwin B. Quiner, 1866, Clarke & Co., Chicago, p.627; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_82.